New Delhi, November 18
The mystery over Delhi girl Devyani Narang’s death in Kanpur on Saturday deepened further on Sunday.

A friend of Devyani claimed that she had received a message from her saying she “was fed up with the life and want complete peace.”

Devyani’s classmate at Delhi’s Bhatnagar International School, Garima told some television news channels that she had received an SMS from Devyani from Lucknow saying, “I’m fed up with all these things in life. I want complete peace.”

Explaining, Garima told news channels that Devyani was upset with some eve-teasing incident, involving one of her male classmates in the school.

Devyani was found dead on Saturday on the outskirts of Kanpur on the bank of the Ganges with broken limbs. The local police maintained that she appeared to have slipped off a 50-ft-high hill on the riverbank, while taking pictures on her mobile phone.

The XII standard student had left for Lucknow’s City Montessori School (CMS) November 13 to participate in an inter-school function there with some of her schoolmates and teacher Krishna Shahu.

While having her lunch in the CMS hostel, she received a call on her mobile and she left the dining hall to answer the call. But she never returned and was found dead in Kanpur next day.

As she failed to return, her schoolteacher lodged a missing person report at a Lucknow police station.

Meanwhile, Devyani was cremated on Sunday here.

Her father Sunil Narang, who runs a chemist shop in south Delhi is yet to figure out how did her daughter reach Kanpur.

“I had sent her just to Lucknow,” he said.

While authorities at Delhi’s Bhatnagar International School remained tight-lipped, CMS, Lucknow Principal Jyoti Sahni sought to wash her hands of the incident.

“What can one do, if a student, coming from outside the city changes her school uniform and quietly slips out of the school premises,” she said adding such an incident had never happened here. — IANS

New Delhi, November 18
South Asia will be particularly affected by water shortages due to global warming, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned.

The IPCC, the UN body that shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, released the synthesis of its fourth assessment report in Valencia, Spain, on Saturday.

In its section on Asia, the report says, “Glacier melt in the Himalayas is projected to increase flooding and rock avalanches from destabilised slopes and to affect water resources within the next two to three decades. This will be followed by decreased river flows as the glaciers recede.”

This is particularly worrisome, as the Himalayas provide most of the water to the two most populous nations in the world — China and India.

The IPCC predicts that freshwater availability in Central, South, East and Southeast Asia will decrease due to climate change, particularly in large river basins.

“Along with the population growth and increasing demand arising from higher standards of living, (this) could adversely affect more than a billion people by the 2050s.”

The report, written by over 1,250 scientists and reviewed by over 2,500 from all over the world says, “Coastal areas, especially heavily populated mega- delta regions in South, East and Southeast Asia, will be at the greatest risk due to increased flooding from the sea and, in some mega-deltas, flooding from the rivers.”

Climate change will compound pressures on natural resources and the environment associated with rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and economic development, the IPCC says.

It predicts that crop yields may decrease up to 30 percent in Central and South Asia by the mid-21st century, while it increases up to 20 per cent in East and Southeast Asia.

“Taken together, and considering the influence of rapid population growth and urbanisation, the risk of hunger is projected to remain very high in several developing countries.”

On the health front, the report predicts that climate change will mean more diarrhoeal diseases due to more frequent floods and droughts in East, South and Southeast Asia.

It also predicts that increases in coastal water temperature would worsen the abundance and/or toxicity of cholera in South Asia. — IANS

New Delhi, November 18
For the thousands who took the Common Admission Test (CAT) exam on Sunday seeking admission to the prestigious management schools, it was either a day of jubilation or dejection.

Most, however, agreed that the mathematics section of the paper was a googly.

Wasil Rahman, who works with Microsoft in Hyderabad, was one of the nearly 240,000 CAT aspirants who took the exam, held across 23 cities.

According to Rahman, the quantitative or maths section of the paper was far more difficult than he had imagined.

“It was a tough paper. I didn’t expect the quantitative section to be so difficult. In fact, I was pinning my hopes on maths and was really worried about English since I had not fared well in English in the mock tests earlier.

“That’s why I started with English, thinking that the most difficult section should be dealt with first. But when I came to the quantitative section, I was stumped. I didn’t think it would be this difficult,” Rahman told IANS.

Similarly Bhargava Verma of Delhi said that the quantitative section was tougher than the rest.

“The pattern of the exam was the same as last year. So there were no surprises. But I found the quantitative section difficult,” Verma said.

While a handful of aspirants did say that the quantitative section was manageable, the verdict of the majority was that it was the toughest of all.

There has been a change in the pattern of the test as each question now has more options while the total number of questions for each of the three sections —verbal, data interpretation and quantitative aptitude—has gone down.

The process of reducing the questions was started in 2004. The number of questions, which was 90 in 2005, was reduced to 75 in 2006. In 2004, it was 123, while in 2003 there were 150 questions.

The results of the exams will be out in December. — IANS

New Delhi, November 18
London mayor Ken Livingstone arrived here on Sunday on a six-day visit to India during which he will unveil a new template of cooperation between the two metropolises in trade, sports and films.

Soon after his arrival, Livingstone paid homage at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat.

The mayor is accompanied by a group of top business, tourism and sports executives including Sebastian Coe and Paul Deighton, the main organisers of the 2012 London Olympic Games, NRI businessman Raj Loomba and TV presenter Myleene Klass.

Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Chelsea Football Club, and Jitesh Gadhia, the ABN Amro banker who advised India’s Tata Steel on its $8 billion acquisition of Britain’s Corus Group Plc in 2006, Christopher Rees, partner and co-head of the TMT Group, and Phillip Bouverat, director of Major Accounts, JCB, are also part of the mayor’s delegation.

Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London; Peter Hendy, commissioner for transport; and James Bidwell, chief executive of tourism, are some of the top city officials who have come to India with the London mayor.

Besides Delhi, Livingstone will go to Mumbai, the country’s financial hub, and Amritsar.

Livingstone’s mission in India is to promote London as the “most internationally successful world city” and to promote closer links between London and New Delhi.

The two cities are set to discover that they have a lot in common. While Delhi is to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, London will hold the 2012 Olympics.

The delegation will open trade offices in Delhi and Mumbai to promote London as a global business centre.

The mayor will also sign a film agreement between Film London and the Film and Television Guild of India in Mumbai.

Indian film production contributes $28 million annually to London’s economy with nearly 40 Bollywood movies shot in the British capital. Livingstone will celebrate this link between film industries of the two countries at an event with the iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan as special guest.

Ahead of his visit, Livingstone has hailed the Indian community in London as the most important as Indians play an increasingly dominant economic role in the life of the British capital. London is home to nearly 10,000 Indian-owned businesses.

“India is a rising economic superpower. It has a growth rate of over nine percent a year, 1.2 billion people and it already accounts for the second highest number of inward investment projects into London after the US. Last year, India was one of the three countries accounting for the majority of world economic growth,” Livingstone said in London early this week.

“The aim of this visit is to continue to build on and reinforce these links to strengthen a deep rooted and special relationship between London and India,” the mayor added. — IANS

Noida, November 18
Robbers seem to be having a field day in Noida, breaking padlocks on houses and ransacking them even during daytime.

Even within a gap of few hours, robbers raided some houses in Sector-41 Noida and decamped with cash and gold jewellery worth lakhs from two houses of executives.

Sharad Nigam lives with his family in H-166 Sector-41, Noida. The husband-wife duo are employed in a private company in Delhi.

Their house was broken into on Friday during day while they were in office. Police said only cash and jewellery had been looted by bandits and none of the electronics items was taken away.

Similarly, Deepak Swaroop found the lock of his house No. B-75 Sector-41 broken and his house ransacked while he and his wife were away to their office.

Here also only cash and jewellery were missing. The police have questioned a number of people in the neighbourhood as part of investigations.

The thieves appear to have finetuned their techniques of identifying houses with locks and then quietly getting into them to ransack them at leisure. The surprising part is that nobody in the neighbourhood gets a wind of the thefts.

Police feel some gang of thieves collects information about locked-up houses and then quietly ransacks them. Thieves are by design not touching electronic items as they can be risky and could lead to their arrest some times, say the police.

But there is lot of panic among residents, especially those who are working couples. Residents are a worried lthat in spite of many thefts and housebreaks, police have a dismal record of solving any case.

New Delhi, November 18
At a time grave concern is being expressed in India about the fate of the tiger, a team of researchers has held out hope for the big cat.

In a new study, researchers of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) say that even minor improvements in the management of the existing protected areas in South Asia could double the number of tigers in the region.

The study appears in latest edition of the journal ‘Biological Conservation’.

The study, which examined 157 reserves in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, found that 21 of them met the criteria needed to sustain large tiger populations.

Conservationists estimate that there are currently between 1,500 to 4,000 of the endangered animals in the four countries.

To increase the tiger population, the study suggests better funding, increasing staff support, restoring the tiger habitat and focusing on prevention of poaching.

“We were happy to find that the most important reserves identified in the study already have made tiger conservation a priority,” said Jai Ranganathan of the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, the lead author of the study.

The study has, for the first time, incorporated field data on tiger densities and has assessed the impact of the areas surrounding the reserves on the big cats.

The 21 areas most capable of supporting large numbers of tigers are located in central India, and the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

The remaining protected areas do not have the potential to sustain high numbers of tigers, the study found, but added that things could change if the areas around the reserves were better managed. — IANS

Noida, November 18
A gang of robbers, who had intruded into Shahpur village of Dadri at midnight of Friday- Saturday, were encircled by the alert villagers.

Finding themselves outnumbered by villagers, robbers tried to scare them away by firing. But instead of fleeing, villagers returned the fire.

Having failed to scare the villagers away, robbers, somehow, managed to flee under the cover of darkness.

According to information available, about a dozen armed robbers had intruded into the houses of Shyam Singh and Hari Ram in the village at 1 a.m. Saturday.

The inmates, who were woken up, raised the alarm, though robbers had tried to frighten them with guns.

A large number of villagers came running to the houses of Shyam Singh and Hari Ram with lathis, guns, etc, in their hands.

The bandits starting firing to which villagers replied with return of fire from their firearms.

The intruders then panicked and escaped in darkness, all the while firing from their weapons.

Lack of night patrolling by the police has emboldened the criminals to commit robberies in the areas.

New Delhi, November 18
Jagwati in her late sixties, who is accused of dowry harassment, was granted anticipatory bail by a local court here.

Considering the arguments coupled with the fact that Jagwati’s son had committed suicide before the case was registered, additional sessions judge V Maheshwari said that Jagwati should be released on bail on furnishing of a personal and surety bond of Rs 20,000 each.

The judge noted that Jagwati’s husband had already been granted bail in the case, there was no point in denying the same to her.

Defense counsel K K Sharma cited the case as a rare example of harassment of a husband and his family members by a wife, adding that the man’s old parents were being framed.

He said that Jagwati’s daughter-in-law had filed the case after her son committed suicide in June 2006.

Opposing the bail plea, the public prosecutor said the jewellery of the complainant were yet to be recovered. The court, however, rejected his submissions.

She has alleged that after Deepak got to know about the police case, he landed at her house and banged her head into the wall after pouring kerosene all over her body.

When Shastri died, he left behind no wealth or property; instead he left an example which was morally inspiring in an age riddled with political corruption, said Srivastava.

New Delhi, November 18
Violence against children in schools across the country has become routine and has got finely woven into the fabric of our society.

According to a recent survey in schools across the country, there are at least five beatings per child per class excluding other moderate forms of punishment.

With the Supreme Court passing a directive to abolish corporal punishment in schools on the one hand and waning discipline amongst the youth on the other, time has come to deliberate on the innards of “Corporal Punishment” as a means of discipline.

To facilitate this vital discussion, Amity Institute of Education (AIE) under the visionary guidance of Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan-chairperson, Amity International Schools organized a Principals’ Roundtable Meet on “Elimination of Corporal Punishment: Bane or Boon in the Garb of Human Rights” at Amity International School, Saket.

Speaking against the infliction of corporal punishment upon students, Chief Guest Chitralekha Gurumurthy, academic director, CBSE said that no violence against children is justifiable.

Corporal punishment does not correct but suppresses undesirable behavior. She opined that often high expectations of teachers result in corporal punishments.

Discipline is necessary but discipline is not equivalent to punishment. She rather suggested that the curricula for the aspiring teachers need continuous and comprehensive evaluation.

Corporal punishment should be completely wiped off from the system and teaching should be made a joyful experience for teachers as well as students.

Taking a clue from Chitralekha Gurumurthy, Prof A.K Sharma, former director, NCERT, said that corporal punishment should be completely banned as directed by UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and National Policy on Children (1974). Even verbal violence should not be permitted in schools.

Counsellors should be involved to understand a child’s psychology and to deal with his misdemeanor.

Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan, chairperson, Amity International Schools, expressed concern at the increasing brutal cases of violence against schoolchildren, which often go unreported. She opined that corporal punishment adversely affects a student’s self-image and contributes to disruptive and violent behavior.

She suggested constraint by a school official can be used in a limited number of carefully selected circumstances to protect fellow students and staff from physical injury.

The discussion was a mixed bag of reactions. Madhu Suri from Jagat Convent Sr. Sec. School, Paschim Vihar, S. S Minhas from from Guru Harkrishan Public School and. Madhumita Sen from Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar supported mild corporal punishment when rules and regulations are not followed by students.

Madhumita Sen opined that a list of dos and don’ts should be there in every classroom along with resultant punishments, so that children should be aware of what they are expected to do and what to refrain from.

And even if they indulge in misdemeanor, then they themselves should be held responsible and accordingly punished. Children should take the onus of whatever they do.

Corroborating the use corporal punishment in schools, Minhas said that just like a gardener taking care of a plant has to prune it and shape it, similarly a teacher sometimes has to be stern with the students for their benefit

Speaking strictly against the use of corporal punishment in schools, Meenu Goswami from KR Mangalam World School, GK said that mindset of people has to be changed. The saying “spare the rod and spoil the child” is no longer relevant.

Talking about the consequences of inflicting corporal punishment on children, she said that corporal punishment perpetuates a cycle of child abuse, causes mental and physical injury to a child and creates emotional stress and low self-esteem amongst students.

She expressed concern over the absence of any policy at state level safeguarding the children against corporal punishment, which has become an international issue.

Several valuable suggestions were mooted during the roundtable discussion. The experts unanimously agreed that making laws would not correct the degenerating situation. Workshops and Training Programs on “Child Behaviour and Psychology” should be conducted on regular basis.

Case studies and real-life situations should be taken up by teacher training institutes so that they can churn out teachers who are more caring and understanding towards children. Teachers need to adopt “Positive re-enforcement” and “Assertive Discipline” while dealing with students.